Antwerp city hall in the press
04.11.2022
Much ink has been spilled over the restoration of Antwerp City Hall.
Antwerp city hall is the most important Renaissance building in the Low Countries. The 1564 monument, which has been on the Unesco World Heritage List since 1999, received international acclaim soon after its completion and has been described and depicted countless times.
HUB and Origin i.c.w. Bureau Bouwtechniek designed the architectural design and master plan for the renovation project on Antwerp's Grote Markt, which took place from 2014 to 2022.
The façade and interior of the city hall were completely restored and the building was optimised for energy performance and user comfort. Functionally, there are two major changes: the ground and second floors of the building are partially open to the public, and the municipal councillors and their staff are now united under one roof.
Antwerp City Hall has served the city's citizens since the 16th century. Despite several upgrades, the facades and 19th-century neo-Renaissance interior were in need of a thorough restoration.
The Belgian architectural firms HUB, Origin and Bureau Bouwtechniek worked for eight years on the project that brought the city's municipal councillors back under one roof. The architects respected the essence of the existing structure - they restored the historic shell of the building and returned the main entrance to its original location on the Grote Markt.
After a thorough 3.5-year restoration and renovation, Antwerp City Hall will reopen its doors in June. From then on, it will once again be a real 'house of the city'. The ground floor will become a public space and all the cabinets will be under one roof - in line with today's comfort requirements.
And in terms of sustainability, the Schoon Verdiep, as the people of Antwerp call their city hall, will be completely ready for the future.Antwerp City Hall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was in need of restoration and renovation. Valuable paintings were in poor condition, the gold-leather wall covering in the mayor's office was coming loose ... the building no longer met current comfort requirements and had even partially fallen into disuse. Without a robust restoration campaign, the monument was in danger of suffering irreparable damage.
We roped in Barbara Pecheur and Bert Van den Bergh, architect and partner at Origin Architecture & Engineering and architect at Bureau Bouwtechniek respectively, for an interview.
